Why do they not need to apply a force themselves to make a car go down a ramp? We investigated. I had them jump up and notice that they used their legs to PUSH them up. But what pulled us all back down? There were a few kids who had gravity in their schema and told the class about it! We watched a video of astronauts floating and talked about how we would all float away into space if gravity did not PULL us down to the earths surface! We came to the conclusion that gravity pulls their cars down their ramps!
Again, I decided to reinforce this science concept with art! We took a canvas outside with some paint and put it in a box. I squirted paint (using the PUSHing force) onto the canvas and threw in four marbles. The kids took turns using the canvas to create a ramp by pulling one side up higher than the other and let gravity pull the marbles down the ramp! In this way, we created a collaborative piece of art by using GRAVITY! It turned out so beautiful! The kids loved it and it reinforced that gravity pulled down!
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| Using gravity to pull the marbles down the ramp. |
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| Documentation showing both investigations about Force and Motion |
Love this series on Force and Motion. We are getting ready for Dad's Visits and your ideas are fantastic!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! They really loved exploring this concept!
DeleteSincerely,
Darla Myers
I am so impressed with all your activities! Thank you so much for sharing! Teaching this lesson makes it fun, fun, fun!
ReplyDeleteThat's an awesome way to teach forces. did you do a pyp planner on this topic?
ReplyDeleteThat's an awesome way to teach forces. did you do a pyp planner on this topic?
ReplyDelete